Unexpected
by MiraeChaos
Summary: Shizuo finds Izaya chained to a lamp post and thoroughly beat up. What happened, and how to fix it? contains Violence, Gore, some swearing. Hints of Shizaya/Izuo
1. Chapter 1

_Ah… Shit, this hurts…_

Orihara Izaya, the infamous informant, found himself sitting on the cold ground in a small alley. He was handcuffed to a lamppost, and his feet were bound together with a thin rope, cutting in his skin. He had different kinds of wounds all over him. There were long, irregular cuts on both his arms, the result of a knife slowly cutting open his skin, leaving his sleeves soaked in blood. His face was nearly covered in the ugly blue-purple of fresh bruises. There was another cut on his left cheek, this one slight and straight, a fast cut.

_How much more…_

The back of his shirt was soaked in blood, originating from several shallow stab wounds along his spinal cord. He had several broken ribs and nearly black bruises in the same places. The back of his head was still bleeding, and thick red blood trickling down his neck.

_Where… Did I make a mistake…?_

The physical injuries were painful, but not life threatening if treated in time, so Izaya could deal with that. Regularly getting hit by various flying object has toughened him up quite well. He had Shizuo to thank for that. Not that he would.

The thing that troubled Izaya most at this was the fact he was soaking wet. The ice water that was continuously splashed in his face made him feel numb, and jeopardized his train of thought. It was in the middle of winter, and although it wasn't that cold, it still was no time to go out for a swim, and Izaya could feel himself freezing up, finding it rather hard to think straight.

_Can't… stay here…_

Izaya knew he had to get moving. Aozaki and his subordinates had left him alone on Akabayashi's advice… But they would definitely be back, and soon too. Their intention was to give him time to think, not to let him get away. Izaya was well aware of that.

He pulled himself up against the lamppost, pulling his bound feet underneath him. With a quick flick of his right wrist I managed to take his flick blade out. Squatting down against the lamppost he carefully cut the rope binding his ankles together.

Couldn't he have done so earlier, and have used the knife to defend himself?

Of course he could. But the result would have been nothing more than an extra wave of torture, the loss of the one thing he could use to possibly free himself, and possibly making an enemy of the Awakusu-kai for the rest of his life. He didn't exactly fancy any of those options, so he had opted to do nothing.

It took nearly a full minute to cut the ropes, as Izaya had to take care not to injure himself further. When they finally loosened Izaya pulled himself up again, kicking away the rope.

He tried to keep himself steady, but the blood-loss was getting to him. The kick was too sudden and caused Izaya to slip and fall back to the ground.

Al this was happening in the light of day, but even so, nobody seemed to notice to struggling informant. The crowded streets were barely 30 feet away, but nobody spared a look in de darkened alleys. Dangerous. They were best avoided completely.

_Too tight…_

Izaya sat on the ground, trying to spare his strength as he tried to get out of the handcuffs still binding him to the lamppost. He tried to pull out his hand, not caring much about breaking it, if that meant he could have his freedom. But it was impossible, they were simply too tight. Feeling defeated and running out of ideas, Izaya huffed, as his strength was quite literally flowing out of him.

_What a lame way to go out~…_

He leaned back against the lamppost, letting his head fall back, eyes closed in defeat. Then, a small smile twitched the corners of his mouth upward.

_I can't believe this~ How can it be my luck today is going to turn even worse~?_

Not even two seconds later a man in a bartender suit appeared on the busier street about 30 feet away. Izaya had heard him… He had been chased so often he by now recognized his footsteps out of thousands, which was useful when he needed to run, but right now it didn't make the least of a difference. He wasn't looking forward to being beat up more, so he kept quiet, not even opening his eyes.

Of course Shizuo noticed him. It's almost like a sixth sense, the way he'd always find Izaya, no matter what. Naturally Shizuo approached Izaya. Except something was different…

He didn't seem angry at all. And he wasn't shouting _Izyaaa-kuuuun~ _like he usually does.

Izaya found this rather odd and looked up, to find Shizuo standing rather close, looking… Somewhat irritated, but more like a normal person than usual.

"Shizu-chan~…"

Izaya struggled to stand up against the lamppost, not able to stand the feeling of sitting helplessly on the ground while one of the most dangerous people in this city loomed over him. His expression was grave as he glared at Shizuo, knowing very well he wouldn't be able to do a thing.

"Don't call me that."

Even so, Shizuo still didn't look angry. He just couldn't be mad at somebody so defenseless, even if it was Izaya. He signed loudly.

"You're an idiot, you know that?"

Izaya just looked at Shizuo, confused. He was dizzy from the blood loss and leaned heavily on the lamppost as he tried to arrange his scrambled thoughts properly. He was really about to pass out at this point… Could he take more?

Shizuo signed loudly as he walked up closer, lifting his hand.

Izaya automatically stiffened, preparing for the impact.

But all Shizuo did was flick his finger at Izaya's forehead. Which still hurt quite badly, with Shizuo's insane strength, but not nearly as much as what Izaya was expecting.

He was at loss for words. Shizu-chan was always an unpredictable person to him, but now he was even treating him like a friend… That's just too much. Izaya ended up just staring in confusion.

"Definitely an idiot."

Shizuo grabbed the handcuffs holding Izaya, and pulled them apart. It looked almost effortless, the way he did it. It wasn't quite so, but it still looked that way to a normal person.

Suddenly loosing the chains that held him up Izaya lost his balance and fell forward. Shizuo managed to grab the hood of Izaya's jacket, preventing his head from hitting the floor, but the sudden shock was enough to knock him out at this point.

Shizuo picked him up and wondered what to for a moment. He had already decided he couldn't just leave him here to die… Even if it was Izaya. He could take him to Shinra's place, but that's quite far. He didn't know if it would be okay to move that much, so he decided to take Izaya to his own place instead. Carrying him in princess style was seriously too much, so Shizuo carefully placed him over his shoulder, and walked back to the main street. Tom was waiting for him, and he looked quite shocked when he saw Shizuo.

"What? Don't tell me you really…?"

Shizuo shook his head. "No, I found him like this… I'll have to take care of this, so can you handle today's business on your own?"

Tom frowned at this rather strange scene, but let it go. "It won't be pretty… But I'll manage."

Shizuo frowned too. "I'm sorry; I'll definitely make it up to you and the boss."

Tom nodded and waved him away, continuing on. He couldn't fathom why Shizuo was carrying the man he was always trying to kill, but he knew he wouldn't be able to talk Shizuo out of it once he had decided something.

That's how Shizuo ended up carrying an unconscious Izaya to his own apartment, owning him an awful lot of stares on the way. That was pissing Shizuo off quite effectively, but the weight on his shoulder reminded him to stay calm and go straight home.

While walking along with large steps he phoned Shinra.

"Moshi, mosh~ Shinra here!"

"Hey. I got a little problem on my hands."

"Shizuo? It's unusual for you to call me like this… did you get hurt again? You don't sound hurt at all though!"

"Stop blabbering so much. I found a passed out flea."

"Huh…. Wait, what…?"

"…."

"You're serious? Ugh… Of course you are… What happened?" Shinra suddenly switched to a much more business like tone.

"I don't know. He was handcuffed, and he looks like he's been beat up quite badly."

Shinra nodded, although there was no way Shizuo could see on the other side of the phone-line. "I see, so what then?"

Shizuo shrugged. "I couldn't exactly leave him there, so I'm taking him home."

This confused Shinra. "Why don't you take him here?"

"Too far. It's really bad."

"I see, I'm on my way."

For Shizuo to say it was that bad… Shinra wondered if Izaya would still be alive when he would arrive. He called Celty and quickly explained was going on, and she immediately made a helmet for him and they took off for Shizuo's apartment a few seconds later.

Meanwhile Shizuo had almost reached it, as he climbed the stairs to his place.

Izaya was slowly gaining consciousness. The first thing he noticed was that he was upside down. The next was that his hands were free. And finally there was the steady movement of Shizuo's steps.

_I'm being taken somewhere._

This realization made his entire body try to shy away from the one carrying, which was impossible in the first place, and it hurt like hell too.

"Stay still, Flea."

_Shizu-chan?_

Izaya's auburn eyes snapped open. At first he could only see one big blur. It took a few seconds for his eyes to focus, giving him a moment to think. And it allowed Shizuo to reach the door.

_I was freed… By Shizuo. And now I'm being carried by Shizuo… Why, Where? _

Questions kept popping up one after another, but Izaya wasn't quite clear enough yet to come up with any answers. But he could see now. And he saw the ground being rather far away, with nothing but a half broken-down staircase separating him from it. That, along with sharp stabs of pain at every move he made, gave him a remarkably good reason not to struggle, as Shizuo opened the door to his apartment and walked in. Even in his already confused state it still surprised him how careful Shizuo was not to hurt him further.

Shizuo stepped into his living room, and paused for a moment. He'd love to just dump Izaya on the floor and wait for Shinra to arrive, but he didn't feel like listening to Shinra's endless complains about it. The cough? It would be a pain to get the blood of…

Thus he carried Izaya to his bedroom. At least sheets and blankets can be changed. Izaya was still hanging around obediently. Shizuo found this rather strange and wondered if he was still consciousness, but wouldn't mind much if it wasn't so. Shizuo walked over to his bed and let Izaya slide of his arm, onto the bed. Izaya let out a soft yelp as he was dropped in a new position. When Shizuo looked at Izaya he found two clear auburn eyes intently staring at him, clearly and openly trying to figure him out. For Shizuo this was a rather strange experience. Izaya had said before that he could never guess what Shizuo was thinking, but to see it so clearly on his face was new. It made Shizuo feel superior, and made it easy for him to control his anger upon seeing Izaya's face. The fact it was covered in ugly blue and purple bruises helped too.

Still... Shizuo felt uncomfortable, standing in the same room with the person always after him lying quite helplessly on his bed. It made him want to avert his eyes. But he couldn't, somehow those Auburn eyes were still strong, convincing him he wasn't completely safe, even now.

"Shinra is on his way here."

Shizuo decided to break the silence. Izaya finally averted his eyes. He just could not comprehend it at all. Shizuo helping him. It was like the world was turning the wrong way around to Izaya. But aside from the confusion there was still his pride, suffering a mayor blow as his archenemy was helping him.

Izaya wanted to stand up and leave, or better even, poke fun at Shizu-chan and run.

But at this point he should be happy if he were even able to turn away. Well, he could, but the pain wasn't worth it. After a while he couldn't take the unanswered questions in his head anymore.

"Why… Why did you bring me here?"

Shizuo looked surprised as Izaya's eyes once again fixed on him. He wasn't expecting such a straight forward question. He turned away to think about it. Why did he?

"Because you looked like you were dying."

There was nothing to it. He just couldn't stand letting a person die right in front of his eyes.

Izaya looked away again. He actually tried to smile, but found in was somewhat painful and quit the attempt.

_What a stupid reason… But really Shizu-chan… I never realized you were that kind._

"Thank you." He muttered softly, actually hoping Shizuo wouldn't hear it. He didn't want to thank him in the first place. It just felt wrong not to, and his head had enough to deal with at this time.

Shizuo couldn't believe what he just heard. He wasn't sure about it either… Izaya thanking him, really? But before he could think much about it the doorbell rang. He quickly stood up and walked to the door, glad for the opportunity to get away from Izaya for a moment.

He opened it and found Shinra standing there with a small medical case, and Celty walking up the stairs with a huge suitcase.

"Come in."

Shinra walked through the door, Celty following closely behind. "Where is he?"

"The bed." Shizuo answered as he gestured toward his bedroom door.

Shinra looked a little surprised, but in a good way. He was clearly happy with Shizuo's decision not to leave Izaya on the floor. "Good.. good…"

"I'll just stay here…"

Shinra nodded, guessing Izaya's presence in his house was more than enough to deal with for Shizuo.

He then proceeded to the bedroom, Celty in tow.

Izaya was deliberately looking the other way. He felt weak and helpless, and it made him very nervous to be that way.

Shinra whistled though his teeth as he saw Izaya. "You look terrible."

"Shut up." Izaya turned his head to look at Shinra and at Celty, who was unpacking the large suitcase, fishing up several kinds of medical equipment from it. Shinra had taken just about everything he could. And seeing Izaya's state, he thought he might need even more.

He shook his head as he started what might prove the most difficult; undressing Izaya. "Honestly what did you do this time, I just can't believe you!" He rattled something about how he couldn't possibly have befriended anyone so prone to getting into trouble, some stuff about what they were like in high school and a lot of 'you shouldn't be so reckless'. Izaya was hardly listening and only paid attention when he had to do something.

"..sit up.. and then.." Izaya bit away the pain the best he could as he let Shinra push him in a sitting position. Shinra took Izaya's jacket off carefully, as not to open any of the cuts. Removing his t-shirt proved impossible almost immediately, and is was so torn and drenched in blood there was no sense in trying to keep it in tact anyway, so Shinra cut it off with a pair of scissors.

He stepped back and took a look het the full extent of Izaya's Injuries. It was a strange sight. Shinra guessed that most people would have been dead, or at least unconsciousness.

Izaya was getting strangely drowsy. Strange, because a moment ago, when he was with Shizuo, he felt fine, aside from the pain. But sitting up caused his currently low blood pressure to show much more. Izaya clearly swayed, almost falling over, needing Celty to keep him upright as Shinra examined him. Shinra then gestured to Celty she could let him down.

"He needs a transfusion before anything else." That didn't surprise anyone. Celty set up the bag as Shinra quickly disinfected Izaya's arm.

Izaya just stared at the ceiling. He hated this. He hated this more than anything in the world. He hated being weak, being left in somebody else's care and control. It just didn't suit him. But dying didn't suit him either, so he quietly put up with it.

The blood on Izaya's wounds had mostly dried, keeping him from losing any more. They absolutely couldn't afford that, so Shinra focused on one cut on Izaya's arm that was still open, examining it carefully, noticing its odd shape. The raffled edges and deep running were a clear indication of how it was done, causing Shinra to frown at it. But it was obvious Izaya wasn't going to say anything, so Shinra continued babbling about unrelated topics as he disinfected the cut and stitched it up before bandaging it. He then moved on to the shallow injuries. The deep injuries and broken ribs would have to wait until Izaya's blood pressure was high enough. As it stood he couldn't even apply an anesthetic without severe risks attached. Shinra signed. "Turn over."

Izaya groaned in pain as he turned over, now lying face down. Shinra almost felt sick having to do this on somebody without any anesthetic, but he didn't complain as he cleaned and stitched the small stab wounds on his back. Izaya would occasionally let out a pained groan, but it was clear he was trying hard not to show his pain. Shinra had had plenty of patients who would have screamed feeling the intense sting of the disinfectant coming in direct contact with their wide open wounds.

"I'll have to check if your spinal cord wasn't damaged later…"

Izaya nodded in the pillow his head was on.

"That goes for your ribs as well. I'm pretty sure I'll have to re-locate some."

Izaya buried his face in the pillow. Operations mostly meant too long a recovery time as far as he was concerned. He wouldn't be able to watch his work unfold like that…

_How boring…_

Shizuo appeared in the doorway just when Shinra started to bandage Izaya's torso. He stared at the bright red lines and stitches covering his enemy's back and the arm that wasn't bandaged yet. Izaya buried his face even deeper in the pillow. Shizuo seeing him like this… That was the last thing he wanted.

Shizuo seemed somewhat confused. Seeing Izaya like this was very strange. It reminded him that his human-loving archenemy was still very much human himself. Especially compared to Shizuo himself. The scene made him wonder how Izaya had always been able to stand up to him all this time.

And finally another realization hit him.

_No way. The flea wouldn't have to stay here, right?_

He had enough sense not to ask in Izaya's presence, but it bothered him to no end.

He couldn't stop watching from the Shinra work. As much as he hated the flea it still bothered him to see him bruised and cut up to a point where he was utterly helpless. And he looked so pale and fragile. It looked plain wrong.

It was different from when he found Izaya. At that time he was still trying to get away, in a way it had seemed more natural then the scene playing out before his eyes now.

He had seen Izaya being treated by Shinra before. Quite often, in fact. But that was all back in high school. And he himself had always been the cause of those wounds. Moreover, he would usually be the next one getting treated.

Celty noticed Shizuo's staring and approached him, her PDA seemingly appearing out of nowhere.

[Are you ok?]

Shizuo nodded. "Of course."

[You seem a bit out of it… Are you worried?]

Then she frantically kept typing, thinking about Erika's opinion on Shizuo and Izaya.

[Not that I think you're.. uh.. you know! Or anything.. really!]

Shizuo looked confused, not understanding what that second line was about. "Not worried. It's just… weird."

Celtys shoulders relaxed just a little. If she had a head she might have looked relieved.

Shizuo finally tore his eyes away and went back to his living room, turning on the tv, and immediately turning it off again as he saw the alley where he had found Izaya being brought on to the screen. Instead he turned on the radio, and went to the kitchen to serve himself a glass of milk.

Meanwhile Shinra had finished bandaging Izaya's torso and took a look at his head.

"How'd you get this?" He asked softy poking at the broad but shallow wound that was still bleeding a little.

Izaya flinched at the touch but still answered, his voice sounding muffled in the pillow.

"I was smashed into a wall."

Shinra nodded slowly. "So your memory isn't hazy at all? How unusual… I at least expected you to have a concussion. Either way, I'll have to shave you; I can't clean it like this."

Izaya seemed to stiffen for a moment, but he told himself to deal with it.

"Fine…"

He heard a muffled laughed from another room. Was Shizuo imagining him bald?

_Urgh… I don't even want to think about it._

Shinra smiled apologetically. "Sorry, there's just no other way." He searched the suitcase for a shaver, glad he took one with him, although he hadn't expected to actually use it.

"I'll try to make it look decent, so stay still." Shinra said as he turned it on and carefully started shaving over the large wound. At first he was staying well of it, giving Izaya a chance to feel drowsy again, as the pain wasn't strong enough to keep him awake when Shinra wasn't tempering with his wounds. But then Izaya let out a loud yelp, only just holding back a pained scream as Shinra had to shave over the still half-open wound.

Izaya dug his fingers into the bed sheet, trying very hard not to start screaming. He absolutely would not. There was no way he'd let anyone see that. Especially not Shizuo, who had once again appeared in the doorway.

_Came to see me being tortured huh? Tsk, he didn't need to take me all the way here for that…_

Izaya's thoughts sunk into the dark as the pain became too much to take. He finally passed out again, mostly due to the pain this time.

This made the work a lot easier for Shinra, as his patient was now completely relaxed.

He sped the whole procedure up a bit. He cleaned the last visible cuts and other wounds, stitching and bandaging them. When he was done there wasn't much free skin left on Izaya. But even where it could be seen it had such a deathly pallor you could hardly differ it from the bandages.

Shinra took a good look at his work. "I think I got everything, aside from the inner injuries."

He was nodding to himself, pleased with his work, when Shizuo interrupted him.

"He has some weird scars on his ankles too."

Shinra looked up in surprise. For one he hadn't known Shizuo was there, but what surprised him most was that Shizuo would actually help Izaya. Of course he should have figured, considering the blond dept collector already brought Izaya all the way here. But Shinra had still thought that with Izaya's life no longer in danger, they would go back to their usual hating. They probably would… Still, not this soon.

"I'll take a look." … "These… Jikes. He could stand while these were still fresh?"

Shizuo shrugged. Hey didn't look that bad to him. Just a bunch of fiery red winding lines, but the skin wasn't broken anywhere.

Shinra however knew better, being a doctor and all. These thin ropes would cut off your blood stream, and possibly cause much heavier nerve damage then regular cuts and bruises.

But Shinra wouldn't be able to do anything about those, so he was stuck just treating the skin with an anti-pain ointment and bandaging it.

"Well that's that… The rest will have to wait until he's a little stronger. I'll be back tomorrow to refresh the bandages."

"Sure." Shizuo answered before processing all information, causing Shinra to glance at him curiously. As Shizuo got the problem a vein popped on his face. And he started talking rather loudly, almost yelling. "What? You're saying he has to stay here?"

Shinra shuddered, backing away from Shizuo. "I can't help it! He won't be going anywhere with that IV hanging on to him… Even if he does manage to walk, can you count the amount of people who would jump at the opportunity?"

_Opportunity, which opportunity? Oh... I see. Of course, there ought to be a thousand people out there ready to kill that flea off._

Somewhat satisfied with the idea that Izaya wouldn't be able to troll and bother him too much for the time being Shizuo calmed down.

"You're right. He'd be dead in a second."

Shinra signed in relief. He hadn't been thrown out the window… Thank god.

"Well then, I'll see you tomorrow I guess." Shinra was packing his stuff, leaving some pain medication.

"I'll be at work till 5."

Shinra nodded, preventing himself from accidently pissing of Shizuo again.

As they left Celty showed her PDA to Shizuo.

[You will be fine right?]

Shizuo shrugged and nodded. He didn't like the situation one bit, but he'd surely manage somehow.

With that Shinra and Celty left, leaving Izaya and Shizuo on their own.


	2. Chapter 2

Shizuo looked at the clock. 16.14… Too early for dinner. With a lack of anything better to do he checked on Izaya. He may be a flea, he was still a patient, and in Shizuo's care, no matter how weird that seems.

Looking at Izaya, Shizuo couldn't help but compare him to a mummy.

_Ridiculous._

That bald spot on Izaya's head made actually made Shizuo smile a little. Nevertheless, he did not enjoy the scene and didn't look forward to see it every time he walked by, so he went to his closet and ruffled through it. He then threw the blanket over Izaya, so that only his head and shoulders stuck out, which improved the view in his room a lot, in his own opinion.

Still lacking anything to do, Shizuo decided to put on some movie, and lazed on the couch for a few hours. He lit a cigarette to relax himself. At first he was still a bit on edge with the knowledge Izaya was in the other room, but it wasn't long before he got used to the idea and could go on with life as usual.

He fell asleep as he wasn't really interested in the movie, only to wake up a few hours later.

Izaya had woken up a while ago. He had taken his time to recall everything and answer some of his own questions in silence. But there were several questions he didn't have an answer to. For one… Shizuo.

_I never did get what he was thinking… But saving me? That's too strange… Why would he, who's always out to kill me, save me… And bring me too his home too? Then again, I noticed before, he never does push on through when he has the chance to. Moral? Hmm… That would be normal… But if it's Shizu-chan we're talking about… Impossible! Right…?_

That one he wouldn't be finding an answer to that one anytime soon, so his thoughts moved on a more important problem.

_How can I get the Awakusu-kai of my back? No, before that, what brought them on my tail in the first place?_

He had played some dirty tricks on them, especially that time when he used the granddaughter of the boss to try and kill Shizuo. Although it had been a weak attempt, using an upgraded stun gun. Well, in fact, it hadn't been his intention to actually kill him. Just to set him up. Shizuo completely fell for it to, and had a large group of Awakusu-kai chasing him throughout Ikebukurou. But the plan still failed, because he refused to fight back…

Did the Awakusu-kai want to get back at him for that? Seems little late. Moreover, that girl probably wouldn't ever mention his name, she was both too smart and too secretive for that. She wouldn't recognize him either, as he had somebody else do the dirty work.

_Of course… Shiki-san might have noticed…_

Still, their questions didn't have anything to do with that. Aozaki had been asking him about numbers, gangs and personal information. And about the Dollars. Of course, Izaya hadn't said a thing. But in fact, if they had asked and paid the usual way, a lot of the information they asked for were things he wouldn't mind selling. Aside from his personal info. So, why did they ask that way? Izaya couldn't find the answer to that in his current state and decided to give up on it for the time being, sure that he would find out when he had access to his network again.

He then saw the pain medication. He could use those… But there was no water to take them with… Izaya suddenly smirked.

"Shizu-chan~! Shizu-chan~! Shizu-chan~!"

Shizuo woke of to the sounds of a certain flea, annoying him to no end. Holding back his anger with all his might he stood up and went to his bedroom.

"Shut up, damned flea. What the heck do you want?"

Izaya smiled all innocent as he looked Shizuo in the face. He pointed at the meds.

"Won't you give me some water, Shizu-chan~?"

Veins popped on Shizuo's face, he was about to punch Izaya, but his fist stopped just before the impact as Shizuo saw Izaya wince and making a pained face, waiting to be hit.

_Ah... Fuck._

Instead of Izaya Shizuo hit the wall with his first, as he went to get water. When he got back he puts them right next to Izaya.

"There."

He then stomped right back out of the room.

Izaya was dumbfounded. Not only did Shizuo not punch him... He actually got the water… Confusion!

Even so, Izaya was still thankful somewhere within him, and quickly took the meds with the water.

Shizuo took another look at the clock. 18.30… About time to make dinner. He wasn't exactly a great cook, but he had been living on his own for a while, and his food usually didn't taste half-bad in his own opinion. It was definitely better then take-out every day.

So Shizuo made a simple meal. He cooked some rice and fried some chicken and vegetables, finishing the dish with ready-made sauce that just needed water added to it. It was simple, but it was at least better then fried eggs and it smelled rather nice.

By the time Shizuo was done the pain meds had kicked in and Izaya was feeling a lot better, actually able to roll over and sit up now. Maybe even walk, but he wasn't sure about trying that yet. So he sat up in the bed and took a good look around for the first time. The room wasn't very big, but it had everything it needed. A 2-person bed, although on the small side, and a large closet, which probably held all Shizuo's clothes and linen, and then there were two small nightstands on either side of the bed, the one on his side currently housing nothing but meds, bandages and O-… It was probably empty under normal circumstances. Out of curiosity Izaya checked the one on the other side. It just held a few books, a pack of cigarettes, a lighter and a few spare-buttons. Izaya wondered if those books were ever being read, so he took one out en flipped through the pages. It had obviously been read… a lot too. Some pages were a little torn, and cover was practically falling off.

Shizuo must really like it… Izaya put it back into place.

He then smelled Shizuo's cooking… Reminding him he hadn't eaten anything all day. He suddenly felt really hungry… Causing him to smile deviously.

"Shizu-chan~! I'm hungry~"

"Be good and beg and I might give you some."

… "But shizu-chan… I'm really hungry~!"

"Say please, and don't call me that."

… … … "Please Shizuo?"

Shizuo was surprised at what he heard, but he definitely heard it, so he walked in and fulfilled his part. He put a full plate down next to Izaya, who was intently staring at him, clearly unhappy about his defeat. In words, no less…

"Dare to complain and you'll be starving for the next days."

Izaya's eyes dropped as he took a bite.

"It's ok…"

No, In fact, he really liked it. He preferred home-cooked meals in any occasion, but his own cooking was extremely crappy at best. Although there was no way he'd actually admit that.

Shizuo groaned under his breath and muttered. "Tshh… Unthankful flea."

He went back to the living room and ate there, watching the news, and put up a cigarette afterwards, hoping it would help him relax a little. When he was done he picked up his plate and went to get Izaya's, finding it emptied perfectly, and Izaya asleep under the covers, all rolled up.

"Hah… I'll take that as a compliment." Shizuo smiled as he took the plate and brought it back to the kitchen, where he did the dishes. His phone then rang, it was Shinra.

"Yeah?"

"Hey, how is he?"

"Sleeping, but he was already up and trolling about an hour ago."

Shinra laughed on the other side of the line, although Shizuo hadn't meant it to be humorous.

"Alright, that's good. But there's something I forgot to mention… His IV will have to be changed tomorrow morning, think you could handle that?"

"Eh… I have no idea how to do something like that."

"It's okay! It's really simple actually; you just have to change the bag!" Shinra quickly and simply explained Shizuo how to do it.

"Hmm, yeah... Ok, I think I can manage that."

"Ok, great! Thank you Shizuo! Anyway, it seems it will be a busy night, so I'll hang up now.. See you."

Beep, beep, beep-

The phones went dead, and Shizuo closed it.

_Hmpf, saving that flea is more work then I imagined… Which reminds me, where am I supposed to sleep tonight? … Oh hell, it's my bed._

Although it was still a little early Shizuo decided to get to sleep. There was nothing on tv either way, and after accidently smashing it in a wall several times he tended to avoid using his laptop. He took a shower first and changed into pajamas. Normally he wouldn't bother, but he thought it was somehow appropriate. Finally he brushed his teeth. But when he got to the bed he realized he'd all forgotten about the blood and everything. He sighed, he'd have to re-place the sheets first.

"Oi, IZAYA, wake up."

Izaya just made some rather cute sleeping sound and turned away. Which caused Shizuo to grab his shoulder and shake him. He was holding himself back, but it was still quite rough and caused Izaya to yelp in pain as he woke.

"A.. auch! Shizu-chan, stop! Ah!"

Izaya was gasping for breath as Shizuo let go of him.

"Get off."

Shizuo commanded, wanting to get on with it.

Izaya looked confused, 'how?' he seemed to be asking.

Shizuo threw the pillow Izaya had been using on the ground next to the bed.

"Sit on that."

Seeing no other way to avoid Shizuo's wrath Izaya complied and carefully let himself slip of the bed, onto the pillow.

Shizuo then took of the top blanket, which was perfectly clean, as it had only served to make Izaya invisible. The other one was taking of and tossed towards the door, the sheets following. Shizuo got some others from the closet and put them on the bed, changing the pillow sheets as well. He then went out of the room to throw the dirtied sheets in the washing machine.

Izaya took this time to carefully climb black onto the bed, enjoying the clean sheets.

When Shizuo came back he was trying to get his pant off, since those were still a little damp. Shizuo automatically turned the other way, somewhat embarrassed; the scene reminded him of a manga page Erika had once stunned him with when she needed to get away.

Izaya however failed to notice Shizuo come in completely, as he was fully focused on ignoring his pain as he finally managed to kick of his pants. He felt his stitches pull on his flesh at the sudden movement, but he didn't open any wounds. He could have though, which was another reminder to be careful. He then curled up and pulled the blankets over himself, facing the wall.

Shizuo finally moved as well, turning off the light before crawling onto his own part of the bed.

Izaya was shocked as he felt Shizuo tug on the blanket.

"Eh! What are you doing?"

"Sleeping."

"Wait, here?"

"I ain't sleeping on the cough in my own house. Get out if you don't like it."

Shizuo pulled his blankets over him. He had to curl up a little, as the bed did not support his full length; he usually slept diagonally over it.

Izaya went quiet. He was not comfortable with this, and he was pretty sure Shizuo wasn't either, but he thought he'd probably feel the same way had the roles been reversed. So he just accepted it, and let himself fall asleep next to the monster he hated, and who saved him.

* * *

_Thanks you everyone for the favs and Reviews!_

_I really enjoy reading them, so please keep writing them!_

_Love you! /_


	3. Chapter 3

Shizuo woke up the next morning all stretched out over the bed as usual. He stretched, yawning extensively, before his pajamas reminded him he wasn't alone. This in turn made him wonder how he had managed to stretch in his small bed.

_I haven't kicked him off right?_

But when he looked over to the other side there was still a black-haired mummy there, rolled up like ball, knees almost touching his chin. He seemed to be shaking lightly. Shizuo wondered why for a moment, until he realized he had apparently hugged the blankets to himself.

_Oh… he's cold._

Shizuo got up from the bed, and threw the blankets back over Izaya. He remembered what Shinra said and took the O- from Izaya's nightstand. He dubbed for a while, wondering if he remembered correctly and then changed the bag of the IV. It started dripping nicely…

Shizuo spared a quick glance for his patient.

The bits of visible skin did look a little better now. Shizuo had mixed feelings about that. Whether he should be happy about it, or bothered by it, he couldn't figure it out. In fact, he was both.

Izaya seemed to relax a little and stopped shivering as the warmth of the blankets got to him.

Shizuo felt somehow satisfied by this fact, but couldn't figure out why… He was probably just happy to have done something "right".

Shizuo then left the still sleeping Izaya on his own, and got dressed in his usual suit. He made a simple breakfast, 2 slices of bread with cheese and a glass of milk.

He made some bread for Izaya as well, and left it on his nightstand, along with a can of water and his pain meds. He was about to leave for work when he ended up dubbing about something else… Leave the extra key for Izaya to use if he would want to get out and risk giving the flea free access to his house for the rest of his life here, or take it with him? After thinking that out, the answer was pretty obvious. Izaya probably wouldn't be able to get down those stairs anyway. And with that, Shizuo left.

It was a few hours later when Izaya woke. He was relieved to see Shizuo had already gone, and surprised at what was left for him. He took the meds first and then ate his breakfast, trying hard not to let his thoughts wander. He didn't want to think about yesterday, knowing he wouldn't be finding answers like this. However, the silence made it rather difficult… He had to do SOMETHING.

So Izaya turned over and pulled himself up against the windowsill, and opened the window, leaning out a little to see more. It was better than the four unchanging walls of the bedroom, but still…

Al he could see from here was the flat on the other side a small rarely-traveled street bellow.

He watched the people walk by, occasionally smiling if any of them did something unusual, wondering what their calls were about when they talked into their phones.

But it wasn't all that interesting, even for him. After about an hour or so he let himself fall back in the bed, wondering if he should just go back to sleep.

The fact was, however, that he wasn't sleepy at all. A bit sluggish, probably from the combination of pain meds and low blood pressure, but definitely not sleepy.

He sighed, searching for something else to distract him. He remembered the books Shizuo kept in his nightstand. He picked the thinnest one out and started reading, rather uninterested in its contents. It took him a few hours to get through it, by then it was about 4 o'clock, and Izaya still didn't feel sleepy in the least. His wounds were starting to hurt more then he deemed necessary though, so he took another dose of meds.

He didn't feel like reading another book, so Izaya decided he'd check to see how much he could do in his current state… Starting out with walking. The ability to move around would be a huge improvement to the situation for Izaya.

He rolled himself to the side of the bed, shoved the blanket away and put his feet on the ground. He carefully tried to put some weight on them. There was an odd sensation as he did that. He could clearly feel the floor beneath his feet, but the muscles in his ankles gave a belated reaction to the weight, as he felt them tighten a good second after he tried to use them. Wondering what this strange feeling was Izaya sat back down and tried to twist his feet to around. That he did, but the movement was slow and jerky, not the smooth rolling he had expected to see.

That said, it wasn't like he couldn't move his feet at all, he just had to be careful… So Izaya tried putting some weight on his feet again, and rose up slow and carefully. He could stand at least. That was a relief. Now, let's try to actually get somewhere.

He carefully took s step forward and nearly tripped as his foot wouldn't stretch properly to take over the weight, but Izaya kept upright by holding on to the IV-standard. And he tried again, more careful to wait until he could actually feel is ankle tense up before putting any wait of his foot. That worked, he didn't trip this time.

He continued his slow progress towards the door, where he stood still; trying to regain the patience he had lost through the slow process. He notices a slight dent in the wall, next to the door frame. This must be the spot Shizuo punched yesterday.

_I'm glad that didn't hit my head…_

Izaya took a deep breath and took a next step into the living room. He looked around and headed for the couch, eager to let his already painful ankles rest. It took so much strain to get them to work correctly… Izaya hoped this would get better soon.

When he finally reached the cough he inspected the room he was in.

Like the bedroom it was quite minimal. There was the 3-person couch he was sitting on, a low table in front of him, a closet that held a small television, a radio, some DVD's and a few more books, and a dining table with 5 chairs a bit to his right side, holding a laptop and a vase with flowers. There seemed to be a chair missing… Izaya wondered if Shizuo might have used it as a projectile at some point.

The whole room was clad in light, calm and warm colors, wooden furniture and beige colored walls. It was also very clean… Cleaner then Izaya's own apartment, since he usually left whatever he used regularly within easy reach. Then again, he obviously owned a lot more stuff.

Izaya frowned. How'd Shizuo keep himself occupied in such an empty place?

But then the doorbell rang and he heard a familiar voice outside.

"I said we'd be too early~ He still has to walk home you know?"

…

"Of course, me too! I'm also quite curious as for how those too were getting along."

…

"Haha~, No of course not. I would kiss you right now if I could, you're so cute Celty!"

Izaya carefully got up again, and was carefully making his way over to the door, glancing at the time. 5 O'clock.

"Eh! Well, now that I think about it…"

…

"It really would explain a lot though~!"

Izaya finally reached the door and leaned against the wall as he opened it.

"Hello."

Shinra stared at him in shock. Celty might have done the same, had she had a head. As it was she quickly typed something on her PDA and showed it to Izaya.

[Are you okay? You shouldn't be walking around like this!]

Izaya shrugged. "It feels funny, but I'm fine."

Shinra finally recovered and walked in, Celty following close behind. He pointed at Izaya. "You, sit down now."

Izaya rolled his eyes; he'd been planning too anyway. He once again started walking towards the couch. Celty however quickly got impatient with his slow progress, and picked him up with remarkable ease, and placed his on the couch.

Izaya frowned a bit at this, bothered by the fact he was being treated like an invalid. But he didn't complain; it wouldn't be any use either way.

The first thing Shinra did was taking a look at Izaya's ankles; he treated them with some ointment and re-bandaged them. He couldn't see anything different from yesterday on the outside, but the way Izaya struggled to walk was enough to support his theory.

Izaya however didn't know about this theory yet, and he was curious.

"Say, how come I can't walk properly? I don't remember them doing anything to my legs."

"Well, your feet were bound right? Your bloodstream was blocked and I think your nerves might have been damaged too. Besides those stab wounds were awfully close to your spinal cord. Honestly, how'd you get all this?"

"Hmm… I see. Ah well, isn't that obvious?"

"You were tortured." Shinra stated in a matter of fact way.

"Yes." Izaya answered in a similar way.

"So, who did it?"

"That's classified"

Shinra sighed. "Well, whoever they were, they didn't want to let you get away."

"I noticed."

"They succeeded you know… I mean, it's thanks to Shizuo you're alive and safe for the time being… But this is not going to heal anytime soon. You may be able to walk semi-normally in a week or so. But it will be several months at best before you can run again and even longer before you'll have your previous athletics back."

Izaya looked down. "That's longer then I was hoping for…"

Shinra shrugged. "It's probably your own fault anyways."

Izaya fell back against the pillows. "That what I thought but…"

And at that exact moment Shizuo opened the door and walked in. He was looking straight at Izaya, he had obviously heard the last bit of their conversation.

"But I can't figure it out…"

He walked in on a rather strange scene, in his own opinion. Ikebukuro's infamous informant and well known troll was sitting next to his best friend, who happened to be an underground doctor, wearing nothing but shorts and bandages, on Shizuo's couch. And to top it off, a headless fairy clad in a black rider suit was leaning against the wall next to the door, intently listening to their conversation.

But, considering Izaya didn't have any cloths here, Shinra being the only doctor Shizuo knew, and Celty always having been headless, that wasn't the strange part. The strange part was that Izaya seemed to be saying he was tricked.

Shizuo just couldn't see that happen, Izaya of all people, getting tricked by somebody.

"That's strange for you to say." Shinra continued their conversation as he refreshed Izaya's bandages.

Shizuo closed the door behind him and walked across the room to take place on of the chairs. Celty showed him her PDA as he passed her. [Welcome home. Izaya let us in.] Shizuo nodded and sat down, watching Shinra work.

"Hmm… I'll find out somehow."

"I expect no less of you, but you better not put yourself in any dangerous positions for the time being." Shinra motioned for Izaya to lean forward so that he could change the bandages around his torso.

"I know." What Shinra didn't realize was that it had never been Izaya's intention to be in the middle of anything, he just got dragged in time and time again when he stirred up trouble. Except for last time, when he figured he might as well jump in himself if he was going to be dragged in anyways.

Shinra carefully poked the spots of nearly pure black skin around Izaya's ribs. "I think you'll be strong enough to have those fixed tomorrow."

Izaya held back a yelp and made a pained face as Shinra poked him.

"Oh, ok. Am I moving to your place then?"

Shinra shook his head. "I've been getting patients almost non-stop, and you're gonna need a stable environment. Besides, Shizuo's house is cleaner then my own~"

Shizuo was slightly bothered by this being decided without him, but he let it go. He had already decided to let the Flea stay, what difference could a few extra days make?

Izaya was looking at Shizuo, waiting for something. Shizuo didn't get it at first, but then he realized Izaya was waiting for him to get mad… He pretended he didn't know.

"What is it, Flea?"

Izaya looked away. "Nothing." What was Shizuo thinking? That was the one mystery Izaya could never figure out.

Shinra finished up with Izaya's torso and arms, and went on to take off the bandages on his head. The bruises where darker now, varying from a deep purple to a very dark blue. The wound on the back of his head was healing ok, but Shinra didn't trust it, it was too open for his tastes. "This is going to hurt." He said while picking up the disinfectant and the ointment he had also used on Izaya's ankles.

Izaya closed his eyes in concentration and braced himself.

The disinfectant stung terribly, and if such a thing is possible, the ointment was even worse. But the pain meds Izaya had taken earlier made in bearable, and he managed not to move while Shinra was taking care of him.

Izaya sighed in relief when Shinra was done and put some fresh bandages on him.

"There~ All done!" He then took a new blood bag from his medical case and changed Izaya's IV again. The one Shizuo put on this morning wasn't entirely empty yet, but it was clogging up a bit, so it was definitely time to change it.

"Well, I think this is the last one you'll need… Just as long as you make sure to drink plenty.

Also… You'll have to practice your ankles in order for them to recover, but if you do too much it will just get worse, so take it easy, ok?"

Izaya nodded. It's not like he had anywhere to go anyway. It did bother him though, being stuck in a small house like this, with practically nothing to do.

Shizuo hadn't seen Izaya walk, so he didn't know what was going on… It bothered him a little.

Celty went over to Shizuo and showed him her PDA. [Can we stay over for dinner? I brought all we need for hotpot.]

"Sure, sounds nice."

Celty clapped her hands together in a happy motion. [Do you mind if I take my helmet off?]

Shizuo shrugged. "Of course not, go ahead."

Celty's shoulders shook a bit. Was she laughing? She took her helmet off and placed it on the table. Shadows coming from her neck started swirling in the air like smoke.

Celty wasn't very concerned with Izaya. She never liked him in the first place, and couldn't care less if he got himself into trouble. She wasn't about to kill him or anything, but she was fine with him being defenseless like this. In fact, she considered it quite the improvement. Maybe the city would be calm for a while with Izaya out of the picture… That would be such a relief. What did bother her however is how her friend Shizuo would have to put up with him somehow and she didn't even want to think about Erika's opinion on the matter.

About an hour later everyone was sitting around Shizuo's dining table enjoying the hotpot. Izaya with a blanket dropped over his shoulders. But it was rather quiet. In fact, it was dead silent. Even Shinra felt uncomfortable trying to get a conversation going. It was nothing like the hotpot party Shinra and Celty had organized with everyone except Izaya before.

Izaya didn't look anyone in the face. He felt embarrassed for falling over his own feet when he tried to walk over to the dining table. Shizuo had laughed so much… And he couldn't even do anything to get back at him. It made him feel sick to his stomach; he could barely swallow the food…

He had only taken a few bites when Izaya got tired of the silence. He shoved his chair away from the tablet. He stood up and somehow made his way to the bedroom. Slowly and carefully, so that he wouldn't fall again.

"I'm going to sleep."

He felt strange, not like him at all. He let himself fall on to the bed and closed his eyes, thinking, realizing what was happening to him.

_Ah… I must be falling into depression… So this is what it's like? Hmmm… I guess I should think of something nice… But what is nice about this situation?_

Izaya opened his eyes and stares at the ceiling. He was quite tired, but he didn't actually feel like sleeping at all. In the end he just listened to the others, chewing, shifting their weights, talking…

"That so unlike him…" Shinra muttered after Izaya disappeared from sight, while he was enthusiastically fishing a piece of cabbage from the hotpot.

"Hmmm, really?" Shizuo couldn't tell what was Izaya-like and what was not. Hell, what did he really know about Izaya? For him Izaya was just an annoying flea. He hated how he thought he could control people and that damned know-it-all grin of his. Shizuo had never bother to look further than that, and why would he? The very fact they had been sitting around the same table in peace a moment ago would have registered as a miracle in anyone's eyes.

But now he was actually feeling a little guilty for laughing. Izaya hadn't said a thing about it… not even one snide remark to get back at Shizuo. He just struggled to get back on his feet and walked on. Shizuo felt conflicted inside. The part of him that hated Izaya with all its might loved seeing Izaya so defeated, and felt great being in charge like this. But Shizuo was, by all means, a good person at heart. And he didn't like seeing somebody hurt like that. Besides Izaya hadn't been acting all mighty today… Nor had he displayed that damned grin. No, in fact, he hadn't even smiled at all. The very things Shizuo hated so much were just… gone. He didn't know how to act anymore. Even Shizuo couldn't get mad at Izaya when he's being like this.

"Yeah… I wonder if he's really okay…" Shinra continued, "He seemed fine a little while ago though…" Shinra twisted his chopsticks around before taking another bite.

"Was he ever like this before?" Shizuo was honestly curious now that it was so painfully obvious there's more to Izaya then he knew about.

Shinra tilted his head slightly, thinking about middle school, the time before Izaya and Shizuo had met.

Celty's shoulders shuddered a little, she was giggling, thinking it was such a cute motion.

"Hmm, not really. I mean, not like this… But there was one occasion when he acted a bit oddly. I never thought much about it though."

"So what happened?"

Shinra looked a little confused, why would Shizuo care? But he didn't mind telling. "Well, in my last year of middle school I got stabbed. Actually, that happened because some guy named Nakura was trying to stab Izaya, but I got in the way…"

Shizuo frowned. "Why would you protect that flea?"

Shinra blushed at that. "Ah well, I wanted to make a good impression on Celty…"

Celty's shoulder shook again, as she quickly typed something and showed Shizuo her PDA. [He failed though. I thought he was just a brat at the time.]

"Moh! Celty! That's so embarrassing!" Shinra tried to hide Celty's PDA, although far too late.

Shizuo looked kind of blankly at the two. "So what happened after that?"

"Huh? Oh, that… Well, Izaya told me to tell everyone he was the one who stabbed me… Actually I'm pretty sure it's the only criminal record he has."

"Is that so…" Shizuo continued eating as his friends got themselves in a little lovers' quarrel. A very one-sided one, since Celty cannot speak. He wondered why Izaya would have asked for something like that, or why anyone would. He was also surprised that Izaya wouldn't have more of a record. He ought to have been caught sometimes… Or were those crimes he pinned on Shizuo not his own? Thinking about that a vein sprung out on Shizuo's face, and he shook his head.

_This is no time to be thinking about that… But could it really be that, by law, That is a proper citizen? That's damned hard to believe…_

Izaya could hear everything from the bedroom.

_Why would Shinra mention that time? That was nothing like this… At the time, I was simply mad at that Nakura guy, even now he's still a good tool. Ah but maybe I was a little jealous of Shinra too… It's hard to believe how he's capable of doing completely irrational things for no reason other than to impress some…thing with it._

As the conversation in the living was no longer worth listening too, with Shinra rambling about random things, Izaya sank back into his earlier thoughts. The Awakusu-kai, the torture, their questions…

_Ah, this again. I should have stayed…_

Izaya turned in the bed, and turned again, and ended up just rolling back and forth, bored out of his mind.

Eventually that in itself got boring as well, and Izaya sat up to look out of the window again. It was already dark out, and with the lack of streetlights Izaya couldn't see much of anything. But he heard some voices. It sounded like they were exchanging something illegal… Drugs, probably… He watched their shadows move about for a while, but it couldn't really keep him occupied. He slid back in the bed, and made himself comfortable under the blankets, and remembered something he had meant to do earlier.

"Shizu-chan~!"

He was obviously being ignored…

"Shinra or Celty is fine too…"

But it was Shizuo who turned up in the doorway. He looked… lightly irritated, but only that.

"Is it that hard to use my name? What do you want?"

Izaya hmpfed at that, looking away. "You call me Flea all the time… I think I have the right…" He sighed and looked Shizuo in the eyes. "Where's my coat? I need to use my phone…"

Shizuo ignored his first statement and got Izaya's fur-trimmed coat from the peg. He continued to watch Izaya, curious about what he was planning. This earned him a glare from Izaya, who had obviously been hoping for some more privacy.

Izaya checked all his pockets. Some of his phones where gone… And the two left over were both dead. Out of battery, or drowned, he didn't know. He did find his flick blade was still there, which was a relief.

"Ahw~, they all died~." Izaya was trying to sound cute wanting to get some, any, familiar reaction out of Shizuo. However, he failed.

"What do you need it for?" Shizuo was staring at Izaya, wondering what he was trying to do, talking all girly like that. He just thought it sounded freaky.

Izaya smiled his usual teasing smile. "Well, I thought I could get some pictures of seeping Shizu-chan and spread them around the net~."

Shizuo rammed his fist in the wall, which was actually a way for him to control his anger, as he couldn't just keep it in. He took a deep breath. "I see, I guess I won't lend you mine then."

Izaya smiled somewhat freakishly. The reacting was slightly disappointing, as he didn't get anything thrown at him, but he was satisfied still being able to get on Shizuo's nerves. That at least, was something for him to enjoy. Still, he really did need a phone.

"Ok, ok Shizu-chan~ I promise I won't take any pictures~! Won't you pleeaase~ lend me your phone?"

Shizuo sighed "You should seriously stop calling me by that girly name. It sounds ridiculous." Despite saying that, he still fished out his phone from his pocket and threw it over, Izaya skillfully catching it.

"Thanks." Izaya muttered under his breath, clearly not intending for Shizuo to actually hear him, as he quickly typed in Namie's private number.

A somewhat sleepy voice answered on the other side of the line.

"Hello, this is Yagiri Namie speaking."

"Hi, hi, Namie~"

The voice immediately sounded more alert.

"Izaya? Tsk, so you're alive after all?"

"Ah, that's mean, Namie! You sound like you wanted me to be dead~!"

Shizuo's muffled voice broke in on the conversation. "I'm pretty sure that's true."

Izaya shrugged. "Don't decide that on your own."

"Anyway~, Namie, I need you to do something for me."

"What is it?"

"Gather up some decent clothes and bring them to me… And the chargers too."

"Meh, it's a personal thing again… Right, so, where are you?"

"It can't be helped~ Also, you can take some times off after this. Ah yes… I'm at shizu-chans place."

"Shizu-chan? Oh, Shizuo… Wait, why are you there?"

"I don't feel like explaining. Just bring my stuff."

"Fine."

Beeb, beeb, beeb. Namie hang up as soon as she could.

Shizuo noticed how Izaya's speech suddenly became harsher when he was asked why he was here. He clearly wasn't going to talk to anyone about the stuff that happened to him. Shizuo found this strange… wouldn't you normally talk about things like that and get it out of your system? Another thing Shizuo found strange was how his address seemed to be general knowledge, as there was apparently no need to mention it.

Izaya put the phone on his nightstand, mostly out of habit, but Shizuo didn't seem to care, or maybe he didn't notice. He snuggled up in the blankets and closed his eyes briefly; they immediately felt heavy as he opened them again. "Good Night…" Izaya muttered to nobody in particular as he fell asleep.

Shizuo actually stayed for a while, observing Izaya's sleeping face, which was still full of bruises. The swelling wasn't too bad, because of the ice-water Izaya had been abused with, but covered in blue and purple Shizuo still couldn't find any word other then "ugly" to describe its current state. However, Izaya looked very peaceful in his sleep, smiling slightly.

_Hmm, he really is human after all…_

* * *

Hello everyone!

Thank you for the reviews and +favs It's awesome to see :D

I really love to reading your reviews, and enjoy them greatly!

Unfortunatly I'll have to admit I'm a very slow writer. I've got up to chapter 4 written and uploaded to deviantart,  
just editing them for uploading here. However, once those and 5 are uploaded, you might be in for a wait of a month or more.  
I truly am a slow writer, AND I'm in the middle of my finals... So yeah, I hope you'll all bear with me!_  
_


	4. Chapter 4

After a few minutes Shizuo left Izaya on his own. Shinra and Celty were already cleaning of the table, so Shizuo stepped in to help out. There was a lot of food left over. Celty had been generous for three people in the first place, and with just two actually eating something almost half of it was left. It was kind of a waste to throw it out, so Shizuo stored it in the refrigerator.

He thought about how Izaya had acted during dinner, and it still bothered him. He soon realized he actually preferred Izaya's usual annoying and teasing demeanor, even if it pissed him off every single time. Izaya acting all obedient and quiet was just too strange and generally creepy to watch.

They weren't even done yet when Shinra's ringtone broke through his usual endless blabbering. It was Shiki.

"Kishitani Shinra speaking, what's going on?"

"Another emergency, sorry, but please come as soon as possible." Shiki told Shinra the address and ended the rather short conversation.

Celty then fished her PDA out of nowhere, typed something on it, and nearly shoved it in Shinra's face.

[What's happening?]

Shinra sighed, seeming tired. "That was Shiki again, another one of his subordinates got attacked. Honestly, this has been happening non-stop for the past few days." He then turned to Shizuo, who was staring somewhat blankly at them. "Seems like we'll have to hurry, so I guess I'll see you later."

With that he took his medicine bag and hurried out of the apartment, Celty in tow. Celty still turned around to wave at Shizuo before she hurried after Shinra. A minute later the neigh of Celty's motor-shaped horse filled the air as they sped off into the night.

Shizuo watched them disappear into the darkness before he went back, closing the door behind him, lost in his own thoughts.

_Shiki? What does that mean? Isn't he part of the Awakusu-kai? _

_So then… Somebody is attacking the Yakuza around here. What a crazy stunt to pull…_

_Who would do such a thing? Considering Izaya is here… _

_Oh. I see. That makes sense._

Shizuo, satisfied with his findings got back to doing the dishes. Barely had he done another plate or the doorbell rang.

When he opened the door he found a young brown haired woman on his porch. She was carrying a large sports-bag and had a rather bored look on her face when she held out her hand to Shizuo.

"Good evening. My name is Yagiri Namie. I brought Izaya's stuff."

_So this is the woman Izaya called a while ago? I wonder how they know each other._

Shizuo shook her hand in a daze.

"Come in."

He held open the door and stepped aside to make some room.

Namie nodded and came in, slightly intimidated by the tall blond and his reputation. That however, didn't show in her face at all, nor in her voice.

"So where is Izaya?"

Shizuo made a gesture towards his bedroom.

"Sound asleep."

Namie walked over to the bedroom, thinking the Shizuo wasn't quite as bad as Izaya told her.

"Ha! I heard he goes crazy just hearing my name!" Izaya had told her, laughing like a mad man.

Well, that clearly wasn't happening today. She had mentioned him twice, and didn't get a reaction at all… Shizuo just quietly followed her, as if making sure she didn't do anything weird.

Namie went straight to Izaya's side of the bed and dropped the bag she was carrying at her feet, looking at Izaya's sleeping face. Confusion crept on Namie's face, some emotion finally showing, if only slightly, as she stared at the dark bruises. She suddenly grabbed the blanket and pulled it down, revealing the stark white bandages that made Izaya look like some sort of mummy.

Izaya muttered something in his sleep and curled up a little, trying to protect himself from the sudden cold in his sleep. But, he didn't wake up.

Namie looked downright shocked then, as she let go of the blankets and stared. The Izaya she knew couldn't possibly be dealt that much damage; moreover, he would have noticed somebody come in, whether he'd be asleep or not.

Shizuo looked at Namie's socked face, and wondered what was wrong with her.

"Are you ok?"

Namie broke out from her trance and recovered her usual bored expression.

"I've never been able to walk in on him sleeping…" She answered, poking Izaya's cheek with her index finger.

It made Izaya frown in his sleep, and move away from Namie. Namie couldn't help but smile a little at that.

"This is kind of fun." She commented as she watched her devilish employer sleeping soundly like a child. "I wouldn't mind if he could be like that a little more often."

Shizuo laughed quietly, unwilling to wake his sleeping nemesis. "I see your point."

Namie then stepped away from the bed, straightening herself out, and turned towards Shizuo. "Well, I'm done here, so I think I'll enjoy my holiday now. I'll be off. Good luck putting up with his antics." And with that she turned on her heels and left just like that, walking straight out the door with uncharacteristic long steps.

Shizuo just watched her leave, not sure how to respond to the sudden goodbye.

After Namie left he covered Izaya up again and watched him relax under the warm blankets.

Finally Shizuo could get back to doing the dishes. The water had long cooled down and was now lukewarm at best. Shizuo sighed but let it be, since there was only a little bit left to do anyway. He quickly finished up and decided he would try to check if his theory about what had happened held some ground.

He picked up his laptop and opened it as he sat on the couch. It took a while before it had started up and was connected properly, but Shizuo wasn't in a hurry. Once he was connected Shizuo logged on to the dollars website. He had actually quit the dollars a while ago, but he hadn't bothered to close his account. The forum tended to be informative at times like this, so he considered that a good thing. He just hoped that none of the members that knew him personally would notice him being online.

He first browsed through the 'news' and 'daily happenings' boards, but neither contained anything like what he was looking for. So he went on to look at the 'rumors' board. He didn't like browsing this one… It was always full of people gossiping about somebody else's personal matters. Still, on an occasion like this, it was the most likely place to find the kind of information he was looking for.

There were some interesting threads… Although there was nothing concrete.

[WOW, I saw something incredible today! That informant seemed to be chained up somehow… What was his name again? Anyway, it was really scary, so I stayed away.]

[You saw it too? I thought I had seen it wrong… It really was scary~ There were so many people surrounding him… This Orihara person, is he really that strong? He looked pretty skinny to me…]

[Eh, I didn't see it… But didn't you know? Orihara-san frequently faces of that blond bartender! So I think he's probably stronger then he looks!]

_Strong? Do these people use their brains at all? That flea ain't strong… He just fights dirty._

_And he's fast… I'll admit that much._

The rest of the thread was just people conversing about their fighting and people voting on who could be the winner. Shizuo couldn't help but notice Izaya had more votes. He wondered briefly why people would think that way. Why'd they think either one would win either way, considering it had been undecided until now? Could it be they thought they were just playing around? Leaving that matter aside he searched though some other threads.

[Oi, have you guys heard about this? The Yakuza had been all over the place lately! I think they are searching from somebody… They were even asking normal people about it.]

This thread didn't have any answers yet…

[Something is going on in Ikebukuro… I saw the headless rider today, and yesterday too. He keeps racing around with a doctor of some sort. It was very strange! The cops were going after them just now.]

_Hmmm… Maybe I should call Shinra to see if they're ok._

[WARNING. Awakusu-kai is being attacked. They don't know who did it. Be careful not to get into trouble, they might suspect you! –Admin]

[Eh, what's this, Awakusu-kai? It's that Yakuza or something?]

[Yeah, I think so. But they're being attacked? Scary!]

[Scary? Crazy, I'd say! Awakusu-kan are dangerous! Like, seriously dangerous.

If we get in trouble with them it will be nothing like that time with the yellow scarves…]

[Uwa! I think I'll stay off for a while… I don't want to be suspected by them!]

The rest was just a lot of [I'm scared!] and similar comments.

_Hmm… This might not be very reliable, but seems like I might be right._

Satisfied, Shizuo closed the website and his laptop. He put it back at its usual spot on the dining table. Next to the flowers he got from Kasuka every once in a while.

He yawned then. Time to get ready for bed. Shizuo went through his customary course of doing things. He took a shower, brushed his teeth, and got dressed in his pajamas before he checked the gas and turned off the lights, and finally he got into bed. Or that's what he had planned.

However, Izaya had somehow managed to get completely tangled up in the blanket, looking like a bagworm. Shizuo couldn't see how he was going to untangle that without waking Izaya, so he decided on the easier way of grabbing the other blanket for himself. It was all clean and dry now, so he just had pull the cover over it. It was quite troublesome to get it done in the dark, but it didn't need to be perfect, so Shizuo took it as it came and pulled the fresh blanket over him as he laid down, curling up again, and soon falling asleep.

Izaya woke up in the middle of the night.

_Great, NOW I feel hungry, what great timing... And I don't think shizu-chan told me where to find the toilet..._

After untangling himself from the blankets Izaya stood up from the bed. He almost tripped over the bag Namie had left on the floor, but he managed to hold on to the IV he was still forced to drag around.

_I suppose this means Namie already stopped by... I wonder what she brought._

Izaya carefully stepped over the bag, and proceeded to the bathroom as fast as he could without falling, only to be disappointed as he didn't find what he was looking for. Like the rest of the apartment the bathroom was small, and minimal. There was a shower, a sink, a washing machine and a basket that held the laundry, and with that the space was pretty much filled up. No toilet...

Izaya sighed and looked around, wondering where it could be. He then remembered the two doors in the hallway, one with a handle, one with a key. He stumbled over there and opened the door with the handle, finally finding what he was searching for.

When he was done Izaya's curiosity got the better of him, and he checked what was behind the other door. It was a closet that housed the boiler and the main electricity circuit. It also served as a storage for shopping bags, some repair tools and a few cleaning tools, like a mop and a vacuum cleaner. Izaya mused over the fact this was probably the only messy place in this whole apartment and then wondered if it wasn't dangerous to keep a boiler right next to the electric circuit.

_Then again, there's doesn't seem to be any other place to keep them…_

Still, all in all it wasn't all that interesting and Izaya soon went back to the bedroom. He paused in the doorway and took a look at Shizuo's sleeping face. It reminded him of their conversation earlier. He couldn't resist the urge to snap a picture.

So he got on to his side of the bed, picked up Shizuo's forgotten cell phone from his nightstand and got up on his knees t try and get a decent angle. Shizuo steered in his sleep, alarming Izaya, who rushed to snap the picture quickly. The flash was pretty strong and Izaya sincerely hoped it hadn't woken Shizuo… He didn't want to thrown out of the window in the middle of the night. The tall blond merely grumbled something and turned, but seemingly remained asleep.

Izaya sighed in relief, closing his eyes, waiting for sleep to take his again. However, it wouldn't, and it took barely half an hour for Izaya to run out of patience. Rather than sleepy, he was feeling hungry… and bored. So he decided to find some entertainment for himself, and picked up Shizuo's phone again. He went through the contacts, wondering who would be crazy enough to give his easily flammable nemesis their phone numbers. Not many apparently, as Shizuo had awfully few contacts, with the entire dollars list gone. Izaya actually knew most of the people on it personally. "Shinra, Celty, Simon, Dennis, Kadota Kyohei, Kasuka, Tom-san, Ryugamine…

_Eh, why would shizu-chan have Mikado's number?_

Then there were a few numbers Izaya wasn't familiar with, but their titles easily explained why; Manager, Mom, Dad and granny.

_Haha~ It's just like a kid's contacts._

Finally Izaya found one of his own numbers, all the way down, under the name 'Flea'.

_Tsk, tsk, that's not very nice Shizu-chan~_

Izaya smirked deviously as he changed the display name of his number. It said 'Orihara-sama' when he was done.

Done with the contacts Izaya moved on to take a look at Shizuo's photos. He didn't have a lot of those. The first Izaya saw were a few pictures of Shinra and Celty, taken at Shinra's house. Then there were some older pictures, obviously from high school, as he recognized himself in the background on quite a few.

_Eh… How'd this monster keep his cell alive that long?_

There were also some recent photos of Tom and a blond woman Izaya recognized as the Russian who recently came into town. Finally there was the picture of Shizuo's sleeping face he just took. Izaya sent that one to one of his own numbers, thinking it might prove useful some day, even if just for taunting Shizu-chan with it.

The games on Shizuo's old cell phone were not all that interesting, so Izaya stopped toying with the cell phone that he didn't own, and put it back on the nightstand. He then wrapped himself in the blankets.

He'd have liked to check the stuff Namie brought over, but the dark room didn't lent itself that well for recognizing clothes, especially not now that Izaya's eyes had adapted to the light from Shizuo's cell phone.

So Izaya once again closed his eyes. It took longer than he would have liked, but eventually he was off to dreamland.

* * *

**Thank you for your kind words everyone! I hope you do not expect me to update too fast.. but I'll do my best!**

**For those of you that write about the same fandom: I'd love to hear what your version of the characters think of my story!  
**


	5. Chapter 5

The next morning it was Izaya who woke first. Shizuo was still snoring away.

It wasn't the sort of annoying bouldering snore Izaya would have expected; in fact it had a rather pleasant sound to it. It was quite a quiet sort of snore, with a deep sound to it, similar to Shizuo's voice.

Izaya ended up doing nothing but listen to Shizuo's snoring without a thought clouding his usually busy mind. That was, until he realized just how ridiculously comfortable he was, lying and sleeping next to his nemesis. And that goes for Shizuo as well. They had both just adapted to the new situation as if it was the most normal thing ever.

Why was that? Izaya couldn't answer that despite his excellent brain, Shizuo probably wouldn't even think to ask. But Izaya did try to answer to himself, thinking along the lines that they'd known each other for so long they'd somehow learned to accept each other along the way. It seemed rather unlikely, but it was the only answer Izaya could come up with, so he took it as the truth. For now…

Izaya then sat up and poked Shizuo repeatedly to wake him up.

"Oi, Shizu-chan~! Shizu-chan~!" Izaya called with the most annoying voice he could manage.

Shizuo stirred violently, and swung his arm towards Izaya as if trying to stop an alarm clock from making annoying noises. It hit Izaya hard on the chest.

"Urgh!" Izaya gasped as the air was hit straight out of his lungs. His eyes grew huge as he tried to breath in a panic; he clutched his own chest, desperately trying to make it work properly. Finally, after nearly a full minute his loud gasps sounded through the room as he finally managed to suck in some actual air. Had he really been an alarm clock, he would now be a broken one.

_I suppose breakfast can wait…_

When Izaya caught his breath he sighed. He was hungry. And he wanted to shower… badly. But he wasn't sure if that would be okay… He'd have to ask Shinra later.

Light was pouring through the window above the bed now, so Izaya decided to do what he couldn't do last night; sort out his clothes. He pulled the sports bag Namie had left for him onto the bed and opened it curiously.

On top there were two cell phones Izaya had left at home two days ago, and a whole bunch of feeders for them, the two he already had, and the ones that were lost two days ago. Unwilling to look through the hundred or so texts and voice messages Izaya was sure he'd have, he shoved the whole bunch aside and focused on his cloths. Namie had been more considerate then he had expected of her. Aside from his usual mostly-black wear she also packed some in-home cloths Izaya had all but forgotten he owned in the first place. Baggy pants and loose sweaters didn't suit him, but Izaya had to admit they looked appealing, knowing he wouldn't be going out for a while. Other than that, there were a bunch of boxers, a brush, and Izaya's toothbrush. And finally, all the way on the bottom of the bag, there was something carefully folded up. Izaya took it out, holding it in short of him, staring at it.

Shizuo opened his eyes just then, waking up to the strangest sight. He blinked a few times, making sure he wasn't dreaming.

"You're not actually going to wear that, right?"

Izaya looked at Shizuo, half in shock. "Of course not."

Shizuo shrugged, he didn't actually think it was completely beyond Izaya to actually do it. Still… "So, what are you doing with a skirt then?"

Izaya roughly stuffed the skirt back in the bag. "Ask Namie." He blushed a little in embarrassment.

_What a stupid prank to pull, I'll definitely get you back for that, Namie._

Shizuo shrugged and stretched out, yawning. He then turned and closed his eyes again.

"Eh~! Shizu-chan! How can you just go back to sleep like that? Your quest is hungry here!" Izaya didn't need long to regain his usual teasing demeanor.

Shizuo groaned, facing the wall. "So make your own food."

Izaya smirked. "I don't wanna. And I don't know where everything is. Moreover, you owe me an apology."

Shizuo didn't get what that was about, so he turned again, facing Izaya. "Owe you? For what?"

Izaya's smirk grew wider. "I'm pretty sure you broke one of my ribs just now~" He was in fact still in pain, lots of it. However, he was getting used to that, and managed to ignore it somehow.

Shizuo frowned, confused. "When did I?"

"When I tried to wake you up~" …. "And you treated me like an alarm clock…"

Shizuo looked surprised. "Oh.. That was you? I thought it was weird…."

Izaya facepalmed. Could Shizuo be anymore stupid than this? But he didn't consider Shizuo was only half awake, unlike him.

"I see… So it was you…" Shizuo yawned again, and cuddled up with his blanket, closing his eyes again.

Izaya just shook his head watching Shizuo.

_How can Ikebukuro's famous fighting monster be soo freaking harmless? And just after breaking my rib too…_

Instead of trying to wake Shizuo up again, and risk breaking another rib, Izaya grabbed some clean and comfy clothes and swung his legs of the bed. When he wanted to stand up he felt the IV pull on his arm. It was empty, and in the way. Izaya wasn't sure if it was ok, but he pulled out the injection needle anyway, and pushed the bandage around it down to stop the bleeding as soon as possible. That worked quite well, so Izaya stood up. He took his hairbrush and toothbrush from the bag as well, before making his way over to Shizuo's smallish bathroom. He noticed his walking really was getting a little bit better. His muscles seemed to be responding a bit more accurately than before, although it still hurt a lot. Izaya smiled as he realized this. He couldn't wait until he could walk normally again, and Shinra would stop treating him like an invalid.

Izaya proceeded to wash his face, which was about the only part of him not completely covered in bandages. Looking in the mirror he saw his own face for the first time since the incident. Izaya's skin color had brightened up by now and the bruises were actually lightening up a little, although they were still dark brown and purple in color.

_Holy shit, it's worse than I thought… No wonder even Shizu-chan has been taking pity on me…_

Izaya shuddered at the thought it must have been even worse, but then continues his business here. He brushed his teeth, and his hair.

_Hm… Shinra said he'd make it decent, but it looks like I'll be visiting a hair dresser first thing when I get out of here…_

That however didn't bother him too much, as the bandage made it look pretty normal. He didn't exactly like it either though. But he couldn't really do anything about it, so he just got dressed, and immediately felt a little better in clean cloths. He left his toiletries in the bathroom and went back to the bedroom. He sat on the bed to let his ankles rest as he rustled through 'his' nightstand, looking for the pain meds. He couldn't find them… Had he gone through them already? Izaya sighed, not liking this much. He could deal with quite some pain, sure, but walking was just… Well, it was really bad.

Lacking anything else to do he searches for a pair of contact points and plugged his cell phones in. One of them started up, and began ringing message tones right after. The other stayed dead. That one had apparently drowned. Izaya took the memory card and SIM from the broken phone, and saved them in a small pocket on the sports bag. He could just get a new phone to use it with… no loss. He was bit worried about the phones he lost though. He'd have to regain a lot of contacts. And they might use them… The other phone kept ringing, distracting Izaya from his thoughts. He still didn't feel like answering those hundred or so messages, so he put it on silence mode and left it to charge itself.

Shizuo had steered a bit, but somehow managed to sleep through Izaya's ringtones.

Izaya tried to organize his stuff a little in the limited space of the sports-bag. He knew he would be staying here for a while after all. And admittedly, he had already gotten used to it quite a bit. Shizuo was surprisingly easy to live with when he wasn't throwing vending machines around… The only thing Izaya really hated is how he was forced in a submissive position since he had to rely on Shizuo to take care of him. What he didn't know, was that it was about to get worse.

Izaya lay down on the bed and stared at the ceiling, briefly wondering how Shinra was planning to operate on him here. Shizuo obviously didn't own a medical bed on anything like that. Izaya mused on it for a bit, but let it go; figuring Shinra could probably operate just about anywhere. Moreover, he didn't really want to know in the first place. He just hoped he'd be out during the procedure. Izaya was suffering more than his portion of pain, without somebody poking his insides.

Izaya tried forgot about that and pondered a bit on why he was so comfortable living here instead. It took him a while to figure it out, but then he got it.

_It similar to working with Namie… There's no point in pretending to be nice, since he hates me anyway. There is no point in manipulating either of them either, since the one works for me, and the other is just going to beat me if I do try. It' still kinda fun though, seeing how he tries to deal with it~! Still, he's been so calm about the whole thing… He actually cooks for me…_

Izaya couldn't help but laugh nervously at that thought. Shizuo really had been entirely too kind to him. It was ridiculous. And slightly creepy. And he felt comfortable with it. The last being the strangest. Of course he knew it was completely normal for a human to relax when everything is being taken care of by somebody else. He just didn't expect himself to react this was as well. Especially considering it was Shizuo out of all people. The impossibility and yet reality of the current situation was mind-blowing. But that aside, Izaya once again thought about just how empty this apartment is. How did Shizuo keep himself occupied? Sleep all day?

_Sure looks that way…_

Izaya turned on his side to look at the sleeping Shizuo, all curled up like a little girl. He laughed then.

_Pffft, that stupid nickname suits him better than I thought._

It was about 2 hours of boredom later that Shizuo finally woke up. He sat up, yawning loudly, and stretching extensively. He sleepily looked down to the other side of the bed, where he found a pair of bright Auburn eyes staring at him. Shizuo cringed a little, sitting a little farther away without realizing it.

"What…?"

Izaya didn't avert his eyes for a second and had a serious, concentrated expression on his face.

"It hurts, you snore, and I'm hungry."

Shizuo scratched his head. That answer didn't seem to need such a serious expression… He decided to answer in a similar manner.

"What hurts? I don't care, and be patient."

"Everything, especially my chest, which is your fault, so make up for it."

Shizuo didn't get what Izaya meant, but he didn't care enough to ask. He just growled and stood up, stretching once more.

"Fine, I'm hungry too…"

Izaya then did something which Shizuo registered as rather odd. He stretched his arms towards Shizuo, and gave him an intense but neutral look.

"Carry me."

Shizuo stiffened.

"What?"

Izaya just blinked and repeated in a blank voice.

"I can't walk, so carry me."

Shizuo glared at him, not sure what to do. He was too confused to be angry at Izaya. Moreover, he couldn't tell if Izaya was serious or just playing with that kind of expression on his face. He decided that that arrogant flea couldn't possibly be serious about this, so he just turned away.

"You can just stay there."

And with that Shizuo left for the kitchen, too make them some toast.

Izaya was somewhat disappointed. That clearly didn't work… Again, not the reaction he had been expecting... How frustrating! But he was definitely not staying here any longer. He'd rather watch his monster then the plain walls of the bedroom.

Izaya got on his feet, and growled under his breath as he did.

_Shit, why does this hurt so much all of a sudden?_

He concentrated hard trying not to feel the pain. But it was bad, and it was numbing, and it made walking even more difficult. He reached the door with much difficulty, and was then able to hold on to the dining table. Leaning heavily on it, he walked towards the kitchen, where he found a pair of deep brown eyes watching him. He felt his cheeks flush red for just a second, embarrassed by his own stumbling. Shizuo however, had to make sure he didn't burn anything, his attention quickly left Izaya as he focused on the toast. Meanwhile Izaya continued on, curious as to what Shizuo was making. Once on the other side, he couldn't rely on the table for support any longer, and his feet were tiring rapidly.

He took one more step… Then two… But the third was too much, and he gasped as he fell forward, unable to hang on to anything. He tightly shut his eyes, preparing for impact, and more pain, as he felt a pair of warm, gentle hands holding his upper arms instead. He looked up in wonder.

_Shizu-chan?_

Shizuo had a stern look on his face, as he held Izaya up, as far away as the length of his arms allowed him too.

"Are you stupid or what? If you can't walk, don't."

Shizuo didn't know how to express himself. He hated himself for even considering it, but yeah, he was actually worried. About Izaya. This was weird in every sense of the word. But he knew all too well that he'd have to drag himself through endless mental torture if Izaya were to find out. So he tried to look annoyed instead. That wasn't hard, since it was pretty much his usual state around Izaya.

Izaya looks down and away, pouting. He looked like a child who was being scolded. It might have been cute if his face were still intact.

_He has really intense eyes, kinda pretty… Waah! Why did I think that? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no!_

Shizuo shook his head to get rid of unwanted thoughts, but to anyone else it looked like he was shaking to empower his scolding Izaya, with that stern expression. He then picked Izaya up, carrying him over his shoulder again.

"Hey, what are you doing? Put me down!"

Izaya squirmed and hit Shizuo's back with his fists to empower his words, but to no avail. He still gave of the impression of a child being scolded and taken away.

"Tsk, Stop complaining already, damned flea, you're the one who told me to carry you."

Izaya then sighed, he couldn't deny that. Besides, he could struggle al he wanted but Shizuo was far too strong, and he was well aware of that, so Izaya quickly gave up his resistance. It took a few seconds at most. He let himself be carried away and obediently sat on the couch when he was dropped off. Shizuo didn't even spare him a second glance. Honestly, what's with that...?

Shizuo just went back to his toast, leaving Izaya to sneak a peek from the couch. How bored must one be to find this interesting..? He could never understand. Why couldn't the guy just watch tv or something? Not that he wanted to know what was going on in the informant's twisted mind.

His toast turned out quite nicely, so he brought it to the small table by the couch, along with various spreads and toppings. Pretty much all of it was sweet, like chocolate sprinkles and strawberry jam. Shizuo decorated his toasts with sprinkles, and took place on the other side of the couch. He ate quietly, not bothered by the silence in the least.

Izaya spend some time unnecessarily staring at the spreads before him, wondering how anyone would enjoy such sweet stuff first thing in the morning… Though it was obvious who did. In the end he chooses to go with the cheese. He'd really have preferred eastern style breakfast… Hell, even plain rice would've done. This just tasted heavy and not good at all. He WAS hungry, yes, and that alone was the very reason he was going with it.

Now Shizuo hadn't even the slightest idea what was wrong here. He just watched Izaya nibbling on his toast, and wondered why he was so damn slow. Wasn't he complaining about being hungry a minute ago? Western style breakfast was a rather obvious choice for Shizuo. It was easy, fast, sweet, warm… What more to desire?

Once he was done Shizuo put his plate down and picked up the remote control. He leaned back in the couch and turned it on, lazily watching the news. Izaya followed his gaze to the screen, shifting to the edge of the couch to see.

"Tonight there seem to have been several shoot outs all over Tokyo. Many shots have been heard, however, so far, neither any victims, nor possible suspects have been found."

"The police are suspecting several color gangs of regrouping, residents of Ikebukuro are advised to tread with extra care in the evenings."

"Hanabe Ruri and Hajima Yuuhei were once again sees together, this time…"

_Really? The relationship between Kasuka and Ruri was more important than possible Yakuza activities and gang tensions? The public news is more screwed in the head than I am…_

Yes, Izaya is quite aware of his own madness; he simply accepts and enjoys it. Especially when it's easy to see that the public instances are really much more messed up. At least he still possessed common sense, though he did not necessarily use it.

Now Shizuo, he didn't even notice. For one, his brother was by all means more important than some random shootings and gangs. Not like all that had anything to do with him anyway… Or at least, it never did. He glanced at Izaya, worried about his own position during the flea's stay for the first time.

_He's in on all that shit isn't he? Damn… I never considered that. … Oh well, nothing to do about it now._

Once the news was over and started on to repeat Shizuo threw the remote controller over to Izaya, who was by then, waving back and forth, obviously very bored.

Izaya caught it effortlessly, although the sudden movement caused him to flinch in pain, and stared at it for a few seconds.

"?"

Shizuo just rolled his eyes and looked back at the screen, making himself comfortable on the couch.

"You seemed bored."

Izaya started zapping through the channels and looked at the screen as well.

"I am."

He first flipped through every channel Shizuo had before settling on some cartoon. He'd already seen it, but it was still kind of funny.

Shizuo raised an eyebrow at that.

_How childish… Teh, It suits him._

Izaya finally focused his full attention on the tv. Shizuo was relieved to be free of it. He shifted between watching the cartoon that failed to interest him, and watching Izaya, who seemed utterly engrossed by the childish happenings on the screen. The informant's eyes would widen at certain scenes, he would flinch when a character was hurt, and he'd laugh so innocently at the funny parts...

_Hmmm... Guess he's not so bad if he'd be like this all the time._

Shizuo could almost punch himself for daring to think that. This was the bastard that framed him several times, had him attacked by endless amounts of gangs and who kept bothering him in many ways; the same flea that leaches of people and ruins lives.

And damn, he looks utterly harmless as it is…

Shizuo sighed deeply, just as the episode ended, earning him a questioning look from Izaya. Shizuo simply looked the other way, pretending he didn't care. Izaya didn't fail to notice this but he was at loss to whatever it meant. In fact the whole 'Shizuo takes pity on Izaya' was still one big mystery. So Izaya ignored nay strange behaviors in favor of flipping through the channels. Unfortunately he didn't find anything. Izaya sighed and put down the controller and shot a glance at Shizuo.

"Ano~ Shizu-chan?"

Shizuo was tired of reminding the other of his name and simply replied.

"What do you want?"

Izaya was slightly takes aback by the calm reaction, he really needed to get used to this version of Shizuo. That said, it seemed safe enough…

"Could you bring me back to the bedroom?"

"Sleepy?"

Shizuo apparently didn't think it was weird to carry your nemesis to your own bed on command. Then again, Izaya was beginning to suspect Shizuo really didn't think all he much in general. Maybe, just _maybe_ the random bright moment Shizuo had that always seemed to ruin Izaya's plans was just stupid coincidence… Or perhaps something like instinct? Juts going by gut-feeling did seem rather like Shizuo. However, Izaya had a hard time accepting that he might occasionally be outsmarted by a person NOT thinking. It sounds beyond ridiculous to him.

"A bit."

He lied. He just needed to tend to those messages, and somehow contact all his clients that he would be out of business for a while. Now for a good excuse… Something other than 'hanging out with the fortissimo of 'bukuro' would be a good start.

_Ah… I still don't feel up to this. Alas~ It has to be done._

"Okay."

And just like that Shizuo picked Izaya up. The informant weighed nothing to Shizuo's strength. He held Izaya out in front of him, away from his torso, facing their destination, kind of like how one might hold a young child, except Izaya was far too big for that.

"Ano neh, Shizu-chan… This is rather uncomfortable."

"You complain too much. Learn to walk if you don't like it."

Izaya just hmpfed and crossed his arms in mock resistance until he was set on the bed and Shizuo was walking away again. The blond stopped at the door and gave Izaya a quick look over.

"Eh… Sleep well."

He avoided eye contact and left in somewhat hurried steps.

* * *

**Okay everyone, I'm almost done with chapter six, but I don't really like one part, so I'm still rewriting that bit. for now, Enjoy chapter 5~**

**I'd just like to be clear; This fanfic will not contain any sort of sex, or foreplay. Some cuddling and maybe kissing is the most you can expect.  
**

**As I stated before, Updates will contniue to be slow. And, I'd still love to hear the opinions of your versions of the characters.  
**

**Normal reviews make me happy too~!  
**


	6. Note

I'm Very sorry fr the lack of Updates everyone; believe it or not, I'm am still writing.

However, since my study started I'm so busy with that, taking care of my horse and generally having a life I don't really get to it...

Also I'm addicted to rping Which is ok since it's all drrr, but it takes a lot of time.

Soo.. I'm VERY VERY sorry!

I can't even promise I'll update next week... I hope that weekend, but if not then at least over the holidays.

okay again SORRY FOR MY INCREDIBLE SLOWNESS!

Oh and I read all your reviews! They really make me feel better about my writing

Would you guys like me to reply in PM, as sidenotes with the chapters, or not at all?


	7. Chapter 6

_Well, that was odd. Sleep well? Really Shizu-chan? If you keep acting this… cute, I might actually change my mind about you. Ah.. I don't like that at all. Don't mess with me shizu-chan… I'll make you regret it._

Izaya stared at the door, an unreadable expression twisting his features. He couldn't tell his owns feelings apart, and it irked him. Why should he, a perfect genius, be confused by a stupid protozoan like Shizu-chan? In the end his expression settled on a dark scowl as he picked up his phones and started going through the messages.

Most were from future clients, to which he simply replied.

[Currently unavailable, try again in a month or so.]

He figured he could probably get back to work in a few days, but with these injuries he'd still be locked indoors for a while, which would limit his abilities. At least with this he wouldn't be bother with hurried requests. Then there were some from Akabayashi, layered with threats.

[Come out come out, little mouse~]

[It's no use hiding Orihara-san, we _will _find you!]

[Don't think you're save yet.]

[We are not playing around Orihara-san, if you don't contact us on your own we have our own methods to find the necessary information.]

Izaya deleted them and went through messages from his current clients. He could manage more or less satisfying replies with the information he had gathered before all this, but a few did pose a problem for him. He'd at least have to make a few calls, but he wasn't sure if that would cut it, he thought he'd probably need full access to his network. After all, finding a small group of teens in a city the size of Tokyo wasn't that easy. If it was just Ikebukuro or Shinjuku it wouldn't be much of a problem though, because he had plenty of contacts there. Best check if they had appeared around these parts first. Izaya made a note to self about who to contact as he mused over the appearances and preferences of the kids he memorized. A girl with bright pink and green hair in long curls would've been easy to find anywhere else, but not in Tokyo. At least it would be easier than the generic 'thin girl with short black hair'; there were literally millions of those around. Her company was just that, extremely generic, so he hoped the girl hadn't painted her hair.

Izaya sighed deeply, relieved as well as disappointed. These jobs were so basic it was almost unbelievable, but he'd have been in a tight spot if anything big had flows his way in these past two days. That said; he had only checked his text messages so far. But it was unlikely that somebody would leave him a job on his voice messages. Still, there might be something important so he listened to the voicemail too, in the customary reserve order. The first one caused him to nearly fall of the bed in surprise as Erika's voice squeled in the phone.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, I saw you being carried of by ShizuShizu! I knew you guys were together, knew it, knew it! Neh, neh, how long has it been? Oh and could you sent me a video of your sweet love-hmppf! Dotachin~~ Let me go, I wanna-"

Izaya stared at his phone in utter bafflement. What the… She thought he and Shizu-chan were together... like what, lovers?!

_She's obviously delusional, let's get on with this._

"Orihara-san, I am aware you are currently caught up in your game with my dear colleagues, but I do need to know why my men are being brought down, and I may consider your freedom if you contact me with adequate information. I am sure you are aware of my rules, Orihara-san, but I would like to remind you to play by them too. This is no longer your game."

_Shiki… Hmm, so this is why they did that. Still, this means he must have realized this has nothing to do with me… I might stand a chance, though it's disappointing to think Shiki doesn't consider me capable of doing these things in my current state. So much for a perfect facade. _

He sighed, sad that he apparently hadn't succeeded in raising Shiki's opinion on him yet.

"Eh… Izaya-san, I don't know what going on, but please… Keep me out of it. I have nothing to do with Yakuza, and I don't want to change that!" Masaomi's voice sounded nervous and cracked, despite the show of fake confidence.

_Hmm… I could use him, but street wise as he is, I doubt they would leave a trail obvious enough for him to find._

"Orihara-san, please, I don't know what you see in them, and I don't care how you treat your 'beloved' employees, but keep the kids out of our business, especially in a serious situation like this."

_Well that explains why Masaomi-kun sounded nervous. I guess he stuck his nose were it doesn't belong again. Still, for him to meet Shiki, that's… surprising, at least._

The rest of his messages consisted of Mairu and Kururi taking turns bothering him to take them out to an amusement park and to see Kasuka's newest movie. If only they knew where he was right now… Not that he would tell them.

Finally there was a short solemn sounding message from Mirae, one of his newest pawns who gathered info for him outside of Shinjuku.

"The new guy is in. Don't screw him over to much~ I like him."

Izaya rolled his eyes. That girl tended to be annoying and demanding… Still, she seemed to have ties with Aozaki somehow, so she might become useful in the near future. He frowned to himself, still somewhat annoyed he couldn't seem to find out how exactly she had made those ties with the Yakuza executive.

Meanwhile Shizuo wasn't doing much of anything, just watching tv, relaxing. Eventually he did get bored though, so he decided to go out for a bit, enjoy a sunny day… Maybe he could pick up dinner too, since he usually ate out on Saturdays… Hmm, Sushi sounded quite nice right now… But of course, he wasn't alone, so he went to the bedroom and knocked.

"I'm up."

Shizuo opened the door and peeked around the corner. Izaya was sitting up against puffed up pillows and looked quite energetic to him.

"I'm going out, thought I could pick up some sushi for dinner."

Izaya lit up, smiling widely like a kid. Shizuo's eyes widened at the sight which he'd never seen before.

"Great! Get me some Otoro~!"

Shizuo scratched behind his ear, a little awkwardly.

"I can't afford that."

Izaya's face fell for a moment and then shifted to a softer expression, like he was pondering about something.

"Hmm, since this is a special occasion… You can use my money."

Izaya leant over the side of the bed and fetched his parka, quickly pulling a few bills out of a hidden pocket.

Shizuo took the bills with some hesitation.

"You sure?"

Izaya shrugged and grinned up at the blonde.

"Yup. Can't live without my Otoro~!"

"Ah, fine then."

Shizuo walked off without another word and left, he didn't even lock his door.

The next few hours he spend enjoying the sun, lounging around in the park, eating ice cream (Izaya's unknowing treat) and eventually stopping by Russian Sushi and having a chat with Dennis.

Izaya spend the time making several phone calls, barely managing to complete another job. But he got stuck with two other open requests. He needed his network for this. He wondered if he could use Shizuo's laptop… Now only if he could reach it, he wouldn't have to bother asking. But when he tried out his feet once again he came to the conclusion that while his reaction speed was steadily increasing, the pain was just about unbearable without the medication. With a whole lot of nothing to do he eventually just fell asleep, although it was certainly a very restless and even painful sleep.

The sky was just starting to turn a warmer, yellowish color when Izaya woke up, hearing the front door opening and three pairs of familiar footsteps resounding in the hallway. The informant concluded Shizuo must've met Celty and Shinra outside and was letting them in. A few second later Shinra walked in on him, already rambling.

"Izaya-kun! I'm so sorry, It has been so busy for the past week and I couldn't even keep my eyes open anymore, and gomen nasai! I should have been here hours ago!"

Izaya sighed and rolled his eyes at the doctor.

"It's not like I was looking forward to it, and you're here now, aren't you?"

Shinra smiled apologetically once more but he nodded.

"True. Celty will bring me some tools and then I'll get on with it. How have you been feeling?"

"Crappy. He feet are getting better but this pain is unbearable… You didn't leave me enough meds!"

Shinra's eyes widened almost comically.

"Yes I did, enough to last until tomorrow even! IZAYA! You shouldn't take that many! They are really strong you know?! I left the prescription in the box, didn't you check?"

The raven scowled at him. He didn't check, but he was familiar with the pills. He kept them at home in case he got hit with heavy flying objects while he went out, so he knew the dose. But he was in way more pain than usual right now, so what was wrong with taking them a little more often, huh?

"Yeah I did." He lied easily to his friend.

Shinra sighed. "Fine, if you kill yourself because those things make it so you can't feel your any of own body's warning signals, namely, pain, it's not my fault, ok?"

The raven grinned and winked. "Got it~"

That was when Celty walked in, followed by a strange ball of shadows, and Shizuo. The later showed Izaya a plastic bag from Russian Shushi.

"Got your Otoro…"

Izaya just nodded and looked back at Celty's shadowy ball, which was now growing bigger and taking the shape of some sort of table, and then disappearing altogether, leaving behind an operations table, complete with sheets and hospital gown.

Shizuo left after witnessing the strange event, wordlessly accepting the fact his headless friend could fit large objects in much smaller spaces. Izaya just stared, but quickly gave up on rationalizing what just happened. Celty was a headless fairy that shouldn't exist in the first place, so perhaps it wasn't that strange to think she could so things that shouldn't be possible.

Next thing he knows Shinra inject something in his arm, some anesthetic he supposed, and the rest was blurry. He had let the doctor help him undress and remembered the feeling of cold metal against his chest and the doctor exclaiming something, although he couldn't make out the words.

"Shizuo! How could you?!" The young underground doctor nearly threw himself at a very surprised Shizuo once he was done fixing Izaya up as well as he could.

"What'd I do?!"

"That rib was NOT broken when I checked yesterday! It was a nasty break too, I can hardly believe it didn't puncture Izaya's lung!"

Shizuo turned somewhat red in the face, finally understanding what had happened.

"It wasn't on purpose! I wasn't even awake…"

Shinra shook his head. "Do me a favor and let him sleep alone tonight."

The blonde frowned. "I only have one bed… No futons either."

Shinra sighed. "Fine. I have to hurry and catch some sleep now, but I'll be back in a few days, if he's any worse than he is today you'll be my live subject for any experiments I come up with, got it?"

Shizuo blinked at the doctor, wondering how such a small skinny man managed to sound so menacing. He grumbled a bit at the thought. "… Got it."

Celty then came out, followed by the strange ball of shadows, she had just finished packing.

[Be a little bit more careful, okay, Shizuo? I know you don't like him… But it would be a lot of wasted effort if Izaya died now, wouldn't it?]

Shizuo nodded. "He'll be fine."

When the odd black and white couple finally left he grabbed the bag with Sushi and made his way to Izaya.

"Oi, Fleabag, you awake?"

Said flea's eyes flutter a bit behind closed lids. Yet Izaya remains still, lying on his back, arms lying unnaturally straight by his side. Shizuo frowned and set himself on his side of the bed fluffing a pillow up behind his back to set more comfortable as he crosses his legs.

For a while he simple stared at the still knocked out informant. The guy looked awfully harmless like this… Stupid flea.

_Who'd figured the louse was so freakin' fragile? It's not like I always miss either, so how come he'd always stand up? Since he breaks so easily and all…_

Finally he lost his patience and pinched Izaya's nose, causing the other's eyes to flicker open hazily as he flailed. But the blonde dept collector let go immediately, no harm done. Izaya blinked a little bit confused, eyes hazy as he stared at Shizuo, not seeming to recognize him.

Shizuo stared back, wondering what was wrong, not realizing Shinra had no way to measuring the appropriate amount of sedative with Izaya being all secretive about his personal information. The raven simply hadn't recovered from being sedated yet, but now the haze was slowly fading.

"Shizu-chan?"

Shizuo tore his eyes off and grabbed the bag. "Hungry?"

Izaya laughed very lightly and without any humor. "Hardly but.. Ah, I can't resist my sweet, sweet Otoro~"

Shizuo frowned and unpacked the food, holding up a piece of said Otoro and almost glaring at it. "Doesn't smell sweet to me."

Izaya chuckled and carefully pushed himself up, eating the piece directly from Shizuo's hand, causing the later to startle and move away a bit, staring at Izaya in confusion. The blond was doing a lot of staring today. But hell, if only SOMETHING would make sense!

"Hnnn~" Izaya moaned happily, savoring the taste of his piece of Sushi. "Ah~ this truly is the best~!" He continued with a satisfied smile gracing his lips.

Shizuo blinked and took another piece of Izaya's favorite sushi and took a small curious bite, and almost gagged. "Yuck, how can you eat this? It's downright terrible."

Izaya pouted and grabbed the rest from Shizuo's hand. "Just because your protozoan taste buds can't appreciate the best taste in the world doesn't make it bad!" and with that he popped it in his mouth and savored the taste of the tuna melting on his tongue once more.

Meanwhile Shizuo simply looked confused, not entirely sure if that was supposed to be an insult. But then he just shrugged and but the bag with sushi in between them and ate a bit of his own; Sweet shrimp, his favorite. But he got himself one of those California rolls too, since it looked tasty enough.

Izaya took a few more pieces of otoro before laying down again, sighing deeply.

"Don't want anymore?"

Izaya gave Shizuo a sad look. "Ay~ As much as I'd love to eat more I don't want to end up throwing all my lovely otoro back out due to eating too much so quickly after being under for a while."

Shizuo nodded and quietly repacked Izaya's sushi after finishing his own.

"Mind bringing me some water? I feel like I'll die tonight if I don't take some of those meds." Izaya asked, looking up at Shizuo.

"Sure… Don't take too many again." Shizuo left the bed, making Izaya wonder once more how come Shizuo was so concerned about him. But then he was back again, with water, as promised. He watched as the raven took his medicine, making sure he didn't take too many, and then went away again to clean up and smoke in the living room.

His smoking had almost halved since Izaya was here… The smell of smoke was fainter than before, and Shizuo wondering why he felt so much less stressed with Izaya here. After all, his job was still annoying as always, and Ikebukurou was going crazy even without Izaya pulling any strings. Moreover, the streets were buzzing with rumors that he had killed the flea, so being less stressed than usual could most definitely be registered as strange. But Shizuo figured it was just because he didn't have to worry about the flea appearing randomly and ruining his day, and thus he didn't have to search the crowds for random bits of fur. Not that he did that normally! Right…?

After a while he figured didn't really matter anyway. He felt good about himself and his stress had lessened, no reason to be unhappy. So he went with his new found routine of sleeping next to so called 'flea' and curled up happily on his side of the bed, after changing of course.

Izaya still lay awake and watching Shizuo sleep soundly, remembering he hadn't managed to ask Shinra about the showering and stuff yet. Damn.


End file.
